Chhaila Babu: A tale of deception and seduction

Guru Dutt���s Pyaasa, was about the commercialisation of art and trivilalisation of artistes. Mehboob Khan���s Mother India was a tribute to the courage of the Bharatiya nari in adversity. But when Joy Mukherjee made his 1977 super hit Chhaila Babu, he had perhaps only one thing on his mind ��� Zeenie Baby aka Zeenat Aman.

How else would you a describe a movie mid way into which Ms Aman launches a seduction ditty merely to capture Chhaila Babu���s (Rajesh Khanna) fingerprints on a glass full of whisky? You have barely managed to restrain yourself after watching her in a slit, sky blue, mini skirt coupled with a corset top, when she goes, ���Yeh mood badi tapasya ke baad ek ladki ki zindagi mein aata hai.��� Mind you, while the director will soon forget the fingerprints, but Ms Aman���s fabulous cleavage, is something his camera will keep going back to.

If you still have any interest in redundant and trivial issues like the plot of the film, here it is. But hang on, here���s some more about Zeenie baby. There is the Hawaiian tiara that she sports during a song, and paper butterflies with the golden rings stuck on to her midriff, shoulders and ankles. I know Bollywood flowers are like touch-me-nots but surely someone can make an exception and let me pluck the red sunflower on her back?

My editor insists that I control myself and get back to the story. A suspense thriller, Chhaila Babu was the yesteryear actor Joy Mukherjee���s second and only successful film as a director. There���s this wonderful scene when Zeenie baby clad in a little white dress, flowers in her hair, belly button embellished with a diamond is throwing darts. I could tell you more about this scene but unlike Bollywood directors, who say that the role demands exposure, my editor believes that exposure is unnecessary. He insists that I tell you the plot immediately. So here it goes.

Rita, played by Zeenat, is vacationing in a distant snowy mountain retreat, when she falls for Chhaila Babu, who first poses as a skiing lifeguard and then as a tangewala. But far away in Mumbai, Rita���s gangster dad is murdered while trying to scoot with a suitcase that has cash worth Rs 80 lakhs ��� a lot of money back then. A policeman curiously reaches the murder scene, and the dying dad murmurs a number into his ear ��� 77203. With no sign of the suitcase and suspecting the dreaded ���Scorpion��� to be behind the crime, the police call Rita to Mumbai.

Rita finds Chhaila in Mumbai too, this time as a taxi driver. But she is soon told that the man with many roops could be the Scorpion, who could be her dad���s killer. It is here that the darts come in to play. A furious Rita decides to put an end to this disguise saga, since she can���t make out who is who anymore. She throws darts at Chhaila and casually hits the numbers 77203 on the dartboard. Before you say Z baby, a vault behind the board opens and out pops the suitcase. A policeman turns out to be the real Scorpion and Chhaila Babu reveals his true self. Think about it, Police Commissioner Chhaila Babu.

The unexpected success of the film gave a boost to the careers of both Khanna and Zeenat. Zeenat went on to deliver cinema classics like Qurbani and Laawaris while for Khanna, it was like the final flickering of dying embers. As I take your leave let me come back to my favourite finger print scene. Zeenat is the Laila of Arabia while Khanna is her Majnu. After a BDSM ritual of sorts where she pulls his hair, tears his Kurta with her teeth and turns all poetic spewing verse in her husky voice ��� Lord, if disguises were so easy, can somebody turn me into Chhaila Babu, right here, right now? Obviously I expect to land Zeenie Baby as well.

(The author wishes to dedicate this piece to the long gone age of the Bollywood Diva.)